Monday, November 25, 2013

Standing as one

A friendly gadflynotes the seemingly out-of-character failure to break down the results on preferred methods of raising a family by race. It wasn't included for a few reasons; as someone with an inclination towards citizenism, there are times when capturing the entire American flavor sounds more appetizing than unnecessarily compartmentalizing the palates (although that's admittedly an approach that doesn't tell the whole story--further drilling down is usually required); racial differences are fairly marginal; and sample sizes for non-whites aren't as large we would ideally like them to be.

But the data are there, so why cover them up? Decide for yourself if there is anything additional that needs saying. The following table shows the percentages of respondents, by race (N in parentheses) in 2012, who identified each of the following six scenarios as the most ideal:

Arrangement

Whites (712)

Blacks (151)

Hispanics (73)

Asians (46)

Mother home, father full-time

40.6%

34.7%

45.4%

34.4%

Mother part-time, father full-time

41.1%

43.2%

36.3%

53.6%

Both full-time

11.3%

17.3%

2.3%

7.5%

Both part-time

6.3%

4.7%

14.9%

4.5%

Mother full-time, father part-time

0.2%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

Mother full-time, father home

0.6%

0.0%

1.1%

0.0%

Even among a segment of the population for which over two-thirds of babies are born out of wedlock, the acknowledged ideal is one in which dad brings home the bacon and mom cooks it up.

It is often errantly argued that Hispanics are "natural conservatives", though these results make them appear quite progressive indeed--nearly 15% of those surveyed seem to have acclimated themselves to a Peak Jobs future in which part-time employment becomes more and more the norm not merely among the elderly and those in school, but among those in their prime working years as well.